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University of Wyoming Provides Grants for Legal Writing Institute Conference

June 19, 2014 — The Wyoming Center for the Study of Written Advocacy at the University of Wyoming has awarded grants to individuals to attend the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) Conference June 29-July 2 in Philadelphia, Pa.

Part of UW’s legal writing program, the Wyoming Center for the Study of Written Advocacy received a top-15 national ranking in a recent U.S. News & World Report ranking. The center’s mission is "to produce, facilitate, and promote research and scholarship that explores the substance, procedure and ethics of written legal advocacy." The center was created to advance the doctrinal substance of written legal advocacy.

“Consistent with the center's narrow mission, these grants have been created specifically to subsidize presentations that focus on the substance of written legal advocacy, such as persuasive writing strategies, issues regarding the rules of legal procedure relevant to written advocacy, and ethical issues relevant to written legal advocacy,” says College of Law Professor Michael Smith, the center’s director.

The LWI Conference was chosen as the platform for the first grant opportunity. To be eligible for the grants, applicants were limited to the pool of presenters at the conference. As part of its objective, the center plans to award more grants at future legal writing conferences.

The winning presentations:

“Lawyers' Briefs and Motions: The Forgotten (or Simply Ignored?) Story Behind the Story,” Betsy Lenhart of the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

“Art-iculating the Analysis: Visuals Used as Legal Reasoning,” Victoria L. Chase and Ruth Anne Robbins of Rutgers School of Law-Camden; and Steve Johansen of Lewis and Clark Law School.

“Was Lord Voldemort Misunderstood, Insane or Magically Profiled: Techniques for Selecting a Narrative to Aid Your Client on Appeal,” Jennifer Bontrager, assistant defender, Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender; and Christopher Evers of Qatar University College of Law.

“Categories! A Cognitive Rhetorician’s Approach to Logos and Pathos,” Lucy Jewel of the University of Tennessee College of Law; and Elizabeth Megale of Savannah Law School.